Question

Which of the following statements about what-if analysis is TRUE?

A. Changes in an objective function coefficient will always lead to changes in decision variable values.

B. Changes to constraint right-hand side values will always lead to changes in decision variable values.

C. Changes in an objective function coefficient will never lead to changes in decision variable values.

D. Changes to constraint right-hand side values will never lead to changes in decision variable values.

E.None of the answer choices is correct.

Answer 1

The correct answer is option E, i.e. None of the answer choices is correct.

Changes in an objective function coefficient​ might or might not change the decision variable values. If the changes in the objective function coefficient is within the allowable increase or decrease, then the optimal solution/decision variable values will not change but if the changes are outside the allowable increase or decrease, then the decision variable values will change.

Similarly when the shadow price is non-zero, then changes in the right-hand side of the equation will lead to changes in the decision variable values but if the shadow price is zero, then changes in the right-hand side of the equation within the allowable increase or decrease will not lead to changes in the decision variable values.

Thus considering all this, all of the above statements are incorrect.